I think that over the last decade people have come to rely on social media to get their interaction fix with people instead of getting out to make personal contact ................we even had an ASB Australia wide rally here in Adelaide which was very successful some years back. I still see a lot of bikes out and about , so I don't think their popularity as such has gone , just the social get together side of it has waned . Years ago I was a member of the Ulysses club , & we used to get up to 100 bikes in some of the popular runs .............now when I see them out & about ,there is only a fraction of that number .I'm 66 & still riding regularly , & have 2 sons who also ride , plus some very good friends who ride ........................I guess it's up to all of us to still fly the flag , & hopefully some more might want to join in .

Yeh nah, cash IN HAND or no ride. I've actually never had a problem selling bikes with no test ride at all. Bikes have been a bit special anyway. Other than one bike, my 1983 GPZ1100. Two guys turned up, looked pretty sus, so I put the bloke on the back and took him for a lap...LOL, they left without a bike. Sold it the fallowing week anyway.

I feel the fun of riding fast has waned due to the new enforcement rules, it has certainly changed my riding as i spend more time looking for cameras and watching my speedometer than i do riding the bike.

I am sure many others feel the same if i go back to when i gave up riding you didn't have to worry about impound laws there weren't any, no cameras really they were only just being rolled out and no pusuit laws where they lock you up really either.

The times they are a changing for sure and remember the best way to get away is go to ground always has been, or just don't speed and buckle under to the new regime.

This is the real reason for the lack of interest and motorcycle sales bear this out with sportsbikes sales very low these days and cruiser sales booming, add to this the fact that more people crash motorcycles now per population than they did when i first started riding in the seventies.

I put this down to most guys having never ridden dirt bikes i ride my sportsbikes like dirt bikes and those skills have kept me upright for years and i must be doing something right as since returning to riding on the road two years ago i have ridden 80,000 kays in two years on my sportsbikes while others especially in wa are crashing all around me on a weekly basis.